Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated. I have a netgear DGND3300 v2 with latest firmware. Is this ok for gaming? It's supposed to be....but then we all know marketing is vastly different to the truth .

I think I'll pick up a cable and a dongle. If I end up using the cable for my main rig then I can still use the dongle for my fiance's laptop.

Homeplugs look nice but are quite pricey (£79.99 or US$130 for a pair), especially compared to £10 for a wire or £40 for a dongle. Plus I'd want to know how well they work irl and how using my home wiring could effect latency etc.

1)If you aren't too far from the router then a dongle should be fine. Other than that, you should definitely do some testing an see for yourself and off of that choose.

2)As for your router, the specs on it seem fine. I've used very little from Netgear and what I have used worked as it should.

3)Powerline networking seemed ideal a few years ago, but I have yet to try any of it seeing as Wireless is cheap and efficient right now. Good luck on getting your network together.

In reply....

1) Well it would be in the same room. My lounge is a large reversed L shape (vertical symmetry? ,,,just move the vertical line to the other end of the horizantal one). My phone line comes into my master socket at the top right corner and my router is situated there. My PC is on the north (if we assume basic fps compass mechanics) wall of the horizontal part of the L. It's just stud wall inbetween but I was planning on a usb dongle with either a directional or omnidirectional aerial (probably plugged into my 3m extension), situated on my desk, wall or shelf in an ideal position. Max distance would be about 13 feet. Only problem would be interference from the neighbour's (and half the streets) wireless, but I think most of them operate on G rated networks.

2) It's my second Netgear, the first I paid for. It's basically an upgrade of the same router I had before (DG834G?? I think...been awhile since I actually used it). I wanted to get an N rated unit as my fiance uses her laptop all over the house (I get a lot less earache now she can get signal upstairs, though she still complains of dropouts and slow connection using our current G dongle),plus I was already familiar with the interface for the router. Saying that, I still have this other router, would it be worth setting up a repeater to then run a cable from? Would there be any benefit to this? I know it can be done but am ignorant to any practical advantage other than signal coverage over a wider area...which I don't really require.

3)I know next to nothing about it. I've seen them advertised but I know my home wiring has been done by the lowest bidder :/.I get an A on pingtest.net, but that could mean anything...at my old address I had a C+ and had faster download transfer rates (same upload but my ISP only do the one speed, they're not really an ISP for hosting your own ftp/email/web server on either) and lower latency as well. The price ,compared to my actual needs, is the main prohibitive factor here.

I think I will get both the cable and the dongle and do some testing. If I get within 10ms difference in the latency between the two, then I will probably just opt for the wireless and keep the cable as a backup.